Baseball history, one player at a time

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Swings and misses

Steve Renko won 134 games while pitching for seven different clubs from 1969-1983. He had his best years for the Montreal Expos from 1970-1974. Four times during this span, he won 12 or more games, twice reaching his career-high of 15. His best season came in 1973 when he went 15-11 with a 2.81 ERA.

1970 Topps

Bob Didier caught for parts of six years in the major leagues, spending four with the Atlanta Braves and then playing in a handful of games for the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox. Didier broke into the majors in 1969 with the Braves and had his best year. He played in 114 games for Atlanta, hitting .256 while driving in 32 runs. Didier never again came close to matching the games played or the production of his rookie campaign.

1970 Topps

A two-time all star, Denis Menke played for 13 seasons from 1962-1974. He was selected to the All-Star Game as a Houston Astros in 1969 and again in 1970. He hit .304 in 1970, which was probably his best year offensively. In addition to his career-high average, he also hit 13 home runs, had 92 RBIs and scored 82 runs. The RBIs and runs scored were also career highs. Menke was a the starting third baseman for the 1972 Cincinnati Reds who reached the World Series, where they lost to the Oakland A’s.

As you can see, all three of these cards came back signed, but without surveys. A fourth letter, this one to Al Ferrara, came back marked ‘return to sender’ as the address I have appears to be no good.